Columns

Several serious ‘months’ are designated in September. Healthy Aging Month, for example. World Alzheimer’s Day on the twenty first. Forty-six states celebrate the 5th annual National Falls Prevention Awareness Day on Sept. 22. Grandparents Day is September 9. National Senior Center Month will again be celebrated in some communities. Thirty-eight percent of Berkeley’s 112,580 population are seniors, elders or boomers (2010 Census). The boomer demographic consists of persons born in the postwar years, generally considered in the USA and other Allied nations between 1945 and the early 1960s, when there was an increase in the birth rate following the return of World War II service personnel.

Some senior centers are now being referred to as “community senior centers” and “multipurpose senior centers.” Seems oxymoronic, but there it is. If a new label lends itself to renting out facilities, it’s an OK thing, but expanding senior center labels while decreasing services is unacceptable and catching: subsidized senior/disabled housing projects’ recreation rooms have become community rooms.

“Life Long Learning Program Classes Designed for Adults 55+” once mostly taught in senior centers, usually by credentialed instructors, are fewer and now cost $35.00 per class per term. This includes the Frail Elders and the Adults with Disabilities Programs. At a neighbor city’s senior center, there’s a $1.00 “drop in” charge. At another, there’s an annual membership fee.

Years ago, gerontologist Erdman Ballagh Palmore (born 1930) wrote that “Age-segregated facilities, such as senior centers, discriminate against younger people and therefore are a form of ageism…. It is a kind of positive ageism in that it discriminates in favor of older people. From the standpoint of younger people who are not admitted and who pay most of the taxes that support the centers, senior centers are a negative kind of ageism, or reverse ageism.”

John Krout, in his “Senior Center Evaluation: A Technical Assistance Guide for Providers of Services to the Aging” (1993), also expressed some unreasonable reasoning. “… several problems exist with the policy of restricting senior centers to seniors: … They waste community resources by providing duplicate facilities for different age groups, which could be served by one facility-- a community center for all ages. They are based largely on the old stereotype that most seniors are frail or disabled, senile, poor, or otherwise in need of special programs. Activities or programs that require older persons to define themselves as ‘old’ or in any way incapable or inferior, are unattractive to most seniors.”

Such pronouncements serve only as grist for the mill of thoughtful discussion.

Recognized by the Older Americans Act (OAA) as a community focal point, senior centers have become one of older adults’ most widely used resources because they are designated for delivery of OAA services that allow participants to access multiple services in one place. Compared with their peers, senior center participants have higher levels of health, social interaction and life satisfaction, and lower levels of income. Participants’ average age is 75. Most visit their center 1-3 times per week and spend an average of 3.3 hours per visit. Today in the United States, nearly 11,000 senior centers daily serve 1 million older adults.

The Alameda County Area Agency on Aging describes a multipurpose senior center as a facility that provides a broad spectrum of services including, but not limited to, health, social, nutritional, educational services and recreational activities for older adults. Most are staffed and open multiple days during the week. There are also senior centers in communities which may operate one day a week or as part of a local church or recreation center program.

Senior centers offer a variety of programs which may include exercise classes, ballroom dancing, health screenings, legal services, financial planning sessions, 55 Alive Driving classes, computer and other adult education classes, travel trips, and help with applying for benefits and programs available to elders in Alameda County. Some centers have also hosted meetings of such advocacy groups as Gray Panthers, Congress of California Seniors, and Save Section 8. Senior Centers depend on volunteers to augment paid staff, and may offer excellent opportunities to those seeking meaningful volunteer assignments.

For information, call the AC AAA Senior Information and Assistance program at 1-800-510-2020 or 510-577-3530. If you live outside of Alameda County, contact your local Area Agency on Aging to identify a senior center near you.

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In December 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle published a photo, “Disabled and seniors gathered to mourn, holding a ‘funeral’ for Berkeley's warm-water pool. The much-beloved pool is set to 92 degrees and is used by hundreds of disabled and seniors for water exercises. The pool is scheduled to be demolished.” Since the 1980s, the pool was used by disabled people, seniors and parents with infants through exercise classes offered by the city and Berkeley City College.

The warm water pool has long been an issue in which Berkeley’s Commission on Disability has been actively involved. For the last 5 years, there has been an ongoing struggle to reconstruct the “warm pool.” Just how much influence Berkeley commissions have is questionable. Some less, some more than others. It would seem that the Commissions on Aging (COA) and on Disability COD) would be of particular relevance to senior citizens. There appear to be three COD vacancies (of eight)—potential appointees of Councilmembers Capitelli, Moore and Worthington. (The Commission roster was last updated on August 28, 2012.)

The warm water has a soothing effect for people with muscle and joint disorders, and provides a comfortable environment for aquatic exercises -- a critical part of rehabilitation and overall health for people with limited mobility. A warm-water pool is good fibromyalgia therapy because cold water can make muscles tense up. It is especially important in FMS (fibromyalgia syndrome) because many people with the condition cannot tolerate cold. A warm-water pool is kept around 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius), which is several degrees warmer than most heated pools. (92 degrees has also been mentioned.)

In June 2012 the City Council unanimously approved two measures for Berkeley's November election: a $19.4 million bond measure and $604,000 parcel tax measure on the November ballot that would fund construction and renovation of the city’s swimming pools, to rebuild the Warm and Willard pools and to make needed repairs at King and West Campus pools; and a parcel tax to provide $605,000 annually for operating Warm and Willard pools (which currently have no budget. If passed by voters, the measure would build a new warm water pool to replace the one that closed down in December 2011 at Berkeley High School, renovate the pool at Willard Middle School, and improve locker rooms at King Pool in North Berkeley.

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NEWS

Is fibromyalgia hereditary? Fibromyalgia is not passed directly from parents to children as are such diseases as cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s, and hemophilia. But family studies have found that the odds of having fibromyalgia are several times greater in the immediate families of people with fibromyalgia than in families in which no one has fibromyalgia. These observations suggest that heredity is indeed a factor in causing fibromyalgia. In fact, studies of DNA from family members of people with fibromyalgia and chronic pain syndromes have turned up a number of genes that could help explain why these disorders seem to run in families. Each of these genes plays a role in the nervous system's response to things that hurt, such as pressure and heat. Some of the same genes are also associated with depression and anxiety, which may be the reason why certain antidepressant medications help reduce fibromyalgia symptoms.

A new study suggests a link between the month of your birth and your longevity. Persons born between September and November in the years 1880-1895 had about a 40% higher chance of living to 100 than those born in March, researchers from the University of Chicago Center on Aging found. These findings do not prove a cause-and-effect link, simply an association. But they do point to the importance of the environments in which a child is conceived and grows. "Childhood living conditions may have long-lasting consequences for health in later life and longevity,” they say. Why might the month of birth -- or month of conception – have affected how long someone lived at that time? One possibility is that seasonal diseases played a role.

An invitation. Candidates for election are welcome to share statements of their accomplishments and plans vis a vis senior citizens and elders. Please email them to me at pen136@dslextreme.com.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: September, October and November 2012. Be sure to confirm. Readers are welcome to share by email news of future events and deadlines that may interest boomers, seniors and elders. Daytime, free, and Bay Area events preferred. pen136@dslextreme.com.

Monday, Sept. 10. 7 P.M. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. As part of the California Reads program, Delphine Hirasuna, author of The Art of the Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946, will speak about her book and the experience of Japanese-Americans during World War II, when they were forcibly removed from their homes and interned in remote locations. Gaman is a Japanese word that has no exact English equivalent-- endurance, patience, persistence, forbearance and dignity in the face of pain, frustration and adversity. 510-524-3043.

Thursday, Sept. 13. 7 P.M. “Effects of the Evacuation Order.” A panel of local residents will present personal stories documenting the unique and diverse impacts of Executive Order 9066 issued in 1942 requiring all persons of Japanese ancestry to evacuate the West Coast. El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Avenue. Free. 510-526-7512. E-Mail: swoodbur@ccclib.org

Friday, September 14, 12:10-1 P.M. UC,B Elkus Room, 125 Morrison Hall. Musicians and dancers featured at the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention demonstrate their art and speak about their experiences. Guests include cloggers Thomas Maupin and Daniel Rothwell, and father-daughter duo Rafe & Clelia Stefanini. Moderated by Professor Ben Brinner. Jamming under the oak tree on faculty glade follows. Free. 510-642-4864

Saturday, Sept. 15. 1-3:30 P.M. Making Sense of the American Civil War. Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. Guest lecturer Professor Ari Kelman of UC Davis will speak on the legacy of the American Civil War and emancipation, and lead one of three simultaneous book discussions scheduled to start immediately after the lecture. Free. 510-981-6241.

Korematsu was one of the few Japanese Americans to defy the evacuation order; his arrest led to a Supreme Court case. El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Avenue. Free. 510-526-7512. E-Mail: swoodbur@ccclib.org

Monday, Sept. 24. 7 P.M. Kensington Library Book Club: The Legend of the Fire Horse Woman by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. Three generations of Japanese women are told through the eyes of Sayo, the family's matriarch. Her story takes place both in 1942, at the Manzanar camp, and back in 1902, when she came to America as a bride. Houston vividly re-creates the limitations and loneliness of life in the Manzanar camp. Each meeting starts with a poem selected and read by a member with a brief discussion following the reading. New members welcome. 61 Arlington Av. Free. 510-524-3043.

Wednesday, Sept. 26. 1:30 P.M. Meet the candidates for Berkeley Mayor at a forum at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst, corner of MLK. Moderated by George Lippman of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission, the candidates will present their positions and discuss their visions for Berkeley. Sponsored by the Berkeley-East Bay Gray Panthers. Free. Note: This information is derived from the Planet’s Election Section, i.e. it is not included in the NBSC September newsletter calendar. Contact: Margot Smith Berkeley-East Bay Gray Panthers, 2539 Telegraph Ave, Suite B, Berkeley, CA 94704. 510-548-9696 or 510-486-8010 or GrayPanthersBerk@aol.com.

Wednesdays, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours.

Wednesdays, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours.

Wednesdays, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours.

Wednesday, Dec. 5. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours.